Purple Bruises, Red Scars
by saltedapples
Summary: All is well until Lisbon gets hurt on a case - how will this affect her and her love for Law Enforcement? Will this change her views? How does Jane react. Rated T for somewhat graphic scenes and mild language. Set sometime post Blue Bird but not specific to every storyline.
1. Chapter 1

It had all happened in a split second. They had just caught their latest suspect; an arsonist gone drug dealer, who had been on the run for the past five years, had finally turned up on the outskirts of San Antonio. The full team had travelled there to complete the sting, which had gone off without a hitch. That was until they had got into his reach.

They had set up Cho to meet him for a deal in their selected location - an old warehouse - before he would be cornered by the door and captured by Jane, Lisbon and Vega on the outside.

However, as the dealer tried to escape, and Lisbon knocked him down, starting to put handcuffs on him, it all went wrong. The 200+ pound, 6ft 6 suspect was able to shove Lisbon onto the ground hard, before punching her in the face, rings scratching skin, as he shook off the unlocked left cuff and leapt up.

Jane went running before he realised it. Although he himself was normally no match against the dealer, adrenaline and pure rage gave him the strength to punch him in the face enough times and fast enough so that the guy was powerless, falling to the ground unconscious. Jane barely noticed the scrapes and sting of his knuckles as he ran back over to the dazed Lisbon, who was still on the ground, being attended to by Cho and Vega.

Cho turned around and looked at Jane. "She's still conscious. Take her to the hospital, Jane. We'll finish with him." He pulled on gloves as he and Vega got up and went over to the dealer, leaving Jane with a proper view of Lisbon.

Blood covered the left side of her face, where she was punched; her nose was leaking and her eye was already starting to swell. Thankfully, she hadn't landed on her head - instead, Lisbon had landed on her elbows and forearms first, which were scraped. Jane's breathing quickened even more, and his hand came up to cover his open mouth.

"Jane?" Lisbon whimpered, trying to wipe the blood from her eyes, instead smudging it even more.

"I'm here," Jane said, his voice shaking. He leaned down and kissed a clean patch of her forehead, before lifting her shoulders with one arm and her legs with the other, effectively picking her up. Lisbon put a bloody arm around his neck to stabilise herself as he ran over to Lisbon's car. "Shit," he murmured as he reached the door.

"I got it," Lisbon said quietly, wincing as she searched her pocket for the keys. She pulled them out and pressed the button to unlock the car. Jane lowered her into the front passenger seat, ignoring the fact that blood now covered his arm and neck, and instead focusing on reclining the seat and putting the seatbelt over Lisbon's chest until she was comfortable. He took the keys cautiously out of her hands and went to his side of the car.

"I'm really sorry, Jane."

"What?" Jane turned to look at Lisbon. She was shaking, too, and she looked tiny, like she was being swallowed by her seat. Blood still came out of her nose, but slower now, and the seat was splotched with red. "It's just blood, Teresa. It'll come out." He reached out and squeezed her hand quickly.

"That's not what I meant," she said quietly, but Jane didn't hear as he turned the engine on and started driving to the nearest hospital. He tried to start a light conversation but he knew that if he opened his mouth, all that would come up was sobs. At a red light, Jane pulled off his jacket and gave it to Lisbon, who wrapped it around herself as if it would cure her shakes of shock. He also manoeuvred his way out of his vest, again handing it to Lisbon, this time used to start wiping fresh blood off her face, the older of which was dried already.

Forty minutes later, they ended up in a curtained off "room" in the emergency ward of the hospital. Lisbon was propped up in the bed, wearing a hospital robe and hooked up to a saline drip. Jane was using wet cloth to wipe the blood off her face, which had stopped bleeding thanks to the help of numerous nurses.

"How are you feeling?" Jane said, wiping carefully at her cheekbone.

"Probably better than I look." Jane momentarily stopped moving to examine her. She was right; her face had swelled up, her eye was starting to purple, she had bandages wrapped around her arms and her hair was caked with blood. Jane was about to tell her that she still looked beautiful to him, when a doctor pulled back the curtain and walked in.

"Hello again, Ms. Lisbon. We got the results back from your scans. You're incredibly lucky; no breaks, head injuries or fractures, apart from a hairline fracture of your eye socket, which will hopefully heal itself, and a small gash along your hairline. You have an immense amount of bruising, scrapes and other small injuries, but they will clear up within the next few weeks, as long as you keep them clean and don't injure yourself further. We don't need you here for overnight observations, so once your drip is finished, we'll get you discharged."

Lisbon nodded at each sentence. "Thank you, doctor," she said, squeezing Jane's hand.

The doctor nodded back, but stayed in his place. "Mr Jane, could I please speak with you for a moment?" Jane got up from his seat cautiously, eyebrows raised. Both men walked outside of the curtain and over to the receptionist desk. Jane instantly spoke.

"I didn't do that, you know."

The doctor stared at him, bewildered as to how he'd read his thoughts. He shook his head and looked down at Jane's fists, which were bloody and scraped themselves.

"You're kidding me."

"It adds up, Mr Jane. I will call the police." He reached over the desk to the landline.

Jane laughed frustratedly. "While you're at it, tell them that you've got Federal Agent Teresa Lisbon and Patrick Jane, who have arrived from the Luther-Angus case, where Federal Agent Teresa Lisbon was assaulted by the suspect after a sting gone wrong." Tears unexpectedly sprung up in his eyes, and Jane turned around and walked away before the stunned doctor could say anything else. He composed himself before he walked back through the curtain to Lisbon, forcing a smile on his face.

"What did he want?" Lisbon asked, looking up from cleaning her fingernails. She frowned. "Jane? What's wrong?"

"He just wanted to see if I would like my knuckles bandaged," Jane said, walking back to the chair beside the hospital bed. He ignored the second question, and took the cloth from her hands and started cleaning her face again. "God, Lisbon. You're so, so lucky." Lisbon swallowed and looked down, nodding. Jane leaned forward in his seat; he wiped her lips, thumbing the corners, then kissed her. She tasted like blood.

This knocked the breath out of Lisbon, and rendered her speechless, for all the wrong reasons. Once Jane finally cleared all of the blood off her face that he could, she curled into a ball, looking absently at the I.V. pole. When she could eventually speak again, her voice was quiet and, once again, shaky.

"I just want to go home."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I was going to wait a couple of days before I posted this, but screw it. Enjoy! And thanks to those who told me about the original formatting issue, I didn't even check the document before I uploaded because I was about to go to sleep! That's a lesson learned! ;)**

Another two hours passed before Jane and Lisbon finally arrived at Lisbon's house. Jane left her to go inside to shower and change while he talked on the phone to Cho and various other F.B.I. personnel from multiple fields. It reminded him way too much of Angela and Charlotte. By the time he could finally get out a full statement, and hang up the phone, it was forty five minutes later. It suddenly occurred to Jane that Lisbon was taking an awful long time.

"Lisbon?" he called, walking through the hallway to the bedroom. She wasn't in there; in fact, her change of clothes were still lying on the bed. "Lisbon?" he spoke again, feeling panic rise in him. He continued on to the office, and finally to the bathroom.

Jane knocked on the door, but didn't bother to wait for her to open it.

Lisbon was standing in front of the full-length mirror. She had showered already, her hair sleek and shiny, a pile of red clothes on the floor, but she was still wrapped in her towel, which was scarlet with fresh blood from her wounds. She was staring at herself, fingers moving absently over her face; the bruising from the punch had been brought forward, already dark red and purple, and her left eye was swollen in the corners, so that only red and green shone through. Even from the distance between them, Jane could tell she was shaking yet again.

"Teresa? What's wrong?" Jane slowly moved over the tile toward her. He was surprised by what *he* saw in the mirror, and was momentarily stunned as he observed the blood smeared along his shirt and neck, and the red bruising on his hands. He shook his head and focused back on Lisbon, whose fingers were still skimming her skin, her bandaged arms the only thing left pure white. Lisbon sniffed.

Jane carefully reached out to touch her bare shoulder, his finger tips hovering over her flesh. Lisbon looked away from her face, and instead moved her eyes to Jane, through the mirror. She frowned, before her face crumpled. Jane instantly turned her around and pulled her to him.

"Hey, it's okay. I'm okay," Jane whispered, as she finally broke down. She wrapped her arms around his neck, towel slipping down her back, as she cried into his shoulder, salty tears running streaming down her face and violent sobs convulsing her body. Jane could barely make it out, but he heard her whisper "Oh my god" over and over with each breath.

All Jane could do was hold her, and that's what he did, squeezing her close, rubbing her back and patting her hair, surprised he hadn't started crying too. He had never seen her break like this, and he was terrified by the fact that she could never be fixed the same. It all rang too close to home.

Eventually, Lisbon's eyes ran dry. She was still shaking like a leaf (although mainly because she was cold), and was still whimpering, but now she was nuzzling into Jane's shoulder for comfort, despite the bruising. Jane hitched her towel back up her body, wrapping Lisbon up in it again, and pulled away slightly to look at her poor face.

"Better?" Jane asked, brushing stray hair off Lisbon's face. She shrugged, eyelids lowered, and took a deep breath. He rubbed her shoulders, which were covered with goosebumps. "Get changed while I shower?" he said, forming it into a question. Lisbon nodded, pausing to brush her hand along Jane's, before she walked out of the bathroom, head lowered. Jane pulled out a fresh towel, turned on the water and shed his now damp clothes, adding to the heaped pile on the floor. From the second the hot water fell on his skin, tears escaped Jane's eyes. He sat down under the jet and covered his face, drops mixing with drops, and cried into his hands.

It seemed surreal, that, this morning, he and Lisbon had been playing footsie under the dining table, and now, they were both broken messes. He couldn't believe how lucky she was - that she hadn't been seriously hurt. That she hadn't hit her head, at least not hard. That she hadn't died. Nausea suddenly swelled in Jane's stomach, but he didn't throw up; it was just another dead weight.

But Jane knew he couldn't sit in the shower forever, as Lisbon would no doubt be waiting. He turned his attention to wiping the blood of every single patch of skin, whether it was stained red or not. Within five minutes, he was finished, walking back to the bedroom.

He was only half surprised when he saw Lisbon sitting, cross-legged, on the bed. However, he *was* surprised when he saw what she was wearing, entirely different to what she had previously laid out: she was wearing a grey sleeveless shirt and black jeans, which was normal Lisbon attire, but over this, she was wearing another one of Jane's suit jackets, which looked long enough to reach her knees and only showed the tips of her fingers.

For the first time in hours, a genuine half smile* appeared on Jane's face. "Well this is new."

Lisbon grinned back, a new colour on her face, and a gesture that made Jane's heart melt after all that had happened that day. "I was going to wear one of your shirts, but they're all white, and I didn't want to ruin one of your really nice ones… so I settled for this." She shifted her shoulders. "This is really heavy," she added, her eyes narrowing.

Jane laughed and came over to the bed. "You're so cute, Lisbon," he said, leaning forward to kiss her without putting her hands on her, so he didn't hurt her.

"Hurry up and get changed, I'm hungry!" Lisbon whined after they broke apart, jumping off the bed and walking out the door, avoiding glancing at her reflection on the way.

* The half smile I'm talking about is this from 7x01


	3. Chapter 3

It's funny how fast things can change in five minutes.

Jane came out of the bedroom five minutes later, the pile of red clothes left in a bag in the bedroom, wearing a fresh vest, as was the norm, lately. He wasn't in the mood to put one on, if that were a thing, but he knew Lisbon would appreciate him wearing it - anything to keep the smile on her face for a little bit longer.

That's why, when he walked back down the hallway, and saw Lisbon lying on the couch, hair splayed around her, and jacket-covered arms over her eyes, Jane was close to breaking down again.

"Teresa?" he said quietly, kneeling down beside of her and touching a hand carefully to her shoulder. She moved her arms off of her face, revealing the tears that were streaming down her face despite her firmly shut eyes.

Lisbon shook her head weakly, and her voice was small when she spoke. "Um, I think the pain meds have stopped working." She raised her arms again, this time to carefully brush the tears off her face, which contorted slightly just from the movement. "They're… they're in my bag, on the table." A little squeak of pain escaped after these words.

Jane's breathing quickened as he ran over to the table to get the prescribed medication, grabbing a bottle of water they'd bought at the hospital as well. He crouched beside her again, popping pills into her open hand and opening the bottle. Lisbon brought them to her mouth, and he tipped the water gently after them.

"They'll take a little bit to work, okay?" Jane whispered, pushing the medication and bottle onto the coffee table, then bringing his hand up to hold her poor little face. Lisbon nodded, her head now tipped to the side to face Jane, despite the fact her eyes were still closed. "Hey, look at me," he added, resting his hand against her forehead.

Lisbon's eyes flicked open, still watery and red, her right eye only slightly visible. "Hmm?" she mumbled.

"I love you."

"I love you too," Lisbon whispered back, her voice hoarse and high. Jane leaned forward and kissed her, trying to avoid touching her bruising, instead resting his hand against her neck. She did the same, closing her eyes again, more tears running down her face.

It was five minutes before they broke apart completely again. Jane, his own eyes now red, ran his hands through her hair, wiping his face on his shoulder in the process. "How did this happen?" Lisbon whispered quietly, slowly sitting up again.

"Lisbon, don't. Now's not the time," he said, taking her hand. "Are the pills starting to work?"

"Yeah, a little." She wiped her face with her free hand. "Um, Jane, can we make some coffee?"

Jane couldn't help but smile a bit. _Lisbon and her caffeine_. "Of course, my dearest." He made to get up by himself, but Lisbon tightened her grip on him. "Are you sure?" Jane questioned, looking at her frail form. Lisbon simply nodded, and pulled herself slowly up from the lounge until she was standing upright.

They made their way, hand in hand, into the kitchen. While Jane made the coffee (and in his case, tea), Lisbon hung onto him. When her hand wasn't in his, her arm was around his waist, or her hand on his shoulder. She was like a scared child, afraid to leave Jane's touch for even for a second. Although it took longer than usual, Jane was still able to make their drinks, and they moved back to the couch.

"You okay?" Jane asked, rubbing Lisbon's knee. However, he didn't need the answer to know that the medication was kicking in - a simple smile was on her face, revived in part by her coffee.

"Yep. Doesn't hurt that bad now," she said, taking a sip. She reached up to touch her face, testing it out, and only grimaced slightly as she skimmed along her eye. "God, this must look even more awful than before."

"It really doesn't. Kinda suits you, to be honest."

"How can a black eye and bruising suit someone?" Lisbon pondered, but she was laughing.

"Brings out the badass in you!" Jane paused. "Just… don't make it a habit, okay?"

Lisbon looked at him quickly, before looking away. "I'm sorry, Patrick."

"Can you stop saying that, please? This wasn't your fault. None of this was your fault."

"Yeah, but I shouldn-"

Jane cut her off. "No, stop, Teresa. I was teasing. What happened today was just by chance. You couldn't have done anything differently." He drained his tea cup, a smirk on his face. "Wanna watch some Harry Potter?"

Lisbon drained her own mug. "Admit it Jane, you're obsessed." She took Jane's cup and saucer and walked away into the kitchen.

Jane got up, too, and made his way to the DVD player, which Lisbon had taught him to use. "Hey, I can relate to Voldemort, okay?"

Lisbon's loud laugh echoed through the house. Jane smiled and began searching for the DVD case when he heard a knock at the door. He got up and went over to answer it, surprised to see Cho, Vega and Wylie standing behind it. He took a few steps out the door and closed it behind him.

"Hey guys. I wasn't expecting you all."

Cho nodded at Wylie. "Blame him," he said, as Wylie's face went red.

"It's fine, actually. Lisbon's awake and doing alright now."

"Can we see her?" Cho asked.

"Of course. She'll be so happy to see you." Jane hesitated a moment, hand on the doorknob. "Um, guys, just don't mention anything about her face, okay?" he decided to add, remembering the events from earlier. They all nodded, and with that, Jane let them into Lisbon's house.

"Jane, who is it?" Lisbon said from the kitchen, poking her head around the wall. Her eyes widened happily when she saw the team. "Guys?"

"Surprise!" Wylie said, as they all moved over to her. They each hugged her, albeit carefully, considering her arms. Vega, the last one to come forward, stood still for a second, head cocked to the side, observing Lisbon.

She pointed at the black jacket she was wearing. "Is… is that Jane's?" Lisbon looked down at it, her cheeks blushing a dark red.

However, Jane just laughed. "Uh, yeah. Only thing that would cover her arms but wasn't tight." Vega smirked and nodded.

"Actually, guys, if you're finished on the…" Lisbon's voice faded. She shook her head before starting again. "We were just about to watch a movie, if you'd like to join us?" The three visiting agents looked at each other, raising their shoulders, before they all nodded again.

"Are you sure, Lisbon? You feeling good enough?" Cho asked, a slight frown on his face.

"Yeah, yeah, of course! Take a seat, I'll get some snacks. Jane, put in the DVD, would you?" Lisbon walked back around to the kitchen. Jane, however, quickly jammed the DVD into the player before joining her, leaving Cho, Vega and Wylie in the living room, who were loudly discussing the best Hogwarts house out of the four.

"Teresa… it's been a long day. They'd understand if you weren't feeling well enough…" Jane said quietly.

Lisbon sighed, looking up from the bowl she was pouring pretzels into. "Jane, I promise you, I'm okay. A distraction is the best thing I need right now."

"Let me know if you start feeling bad again, then. Don't lie or hide it, Lisbon," he pressed.

Lisbon finished pouring in the pretzels, and crumpled the packet they came in. "I know. I will." She leant forward and kissed him, her eyes roving over his knuckles as she moved to the bin. "And you do the same, Jane."

"Okay," he nodded, grabbing the bowl of popcorn Lisbon had made just before their guests arrived, plus some drinks from the fridge, and followed her into the living room. They both put their bowls on the coffee table as Hedwig's Theme started to play.

The five of them spent the next couple of hours watching Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secret. Jane and Lisbon were squashed up against each other, Jane's legs touching the ground, but Lisbon's knees up on the couch; Lisbon had shed the jacket, which lay on the back of the lounge, exposing the pink bandages on the front of her arms. Cho was sitting at the other end of the couch, leaning forward and, somewhat strangely, very into the movie. Vega and Wylie were sitting on the carpet next to each other, exchanging friendly banter. At one stage, they began a heated argument about whether or not Draco dyes his hair (Vega for, Wylie against), only to be interrupted by Cho shoving them in the shoulders, reminiscent of Snape, and putting a finger against his lips in silence, eyebrows furrowed in both concentration and anger, no doubt trying to figure out who the Chamber opener was.

Before they knew it, the movie was over. It was only when Cho got up to turn off the lights that Jane noticed that Lisbon was asleep, leaning on his shoulder with her good cheek. When the rest of the team realised this, they awkwardly got up, avoiding looking at Lisbon in what felt like respect, and walked to the front door. Jane carefully lowered Lisbon onto the lounge, placing a pillow under her head and the jacket she was wearing over her like a blanket, before following everyone else onto the patio, where it was now night.

"Really, guys, thanks for coming. Lisbon really needed this," Jane said, a small smile on his face. Vega and Wylie smiled back and waved goodbye, walking back to Cho's car in which they came. However, Cho stayed in his spot.

"I know I said it over the phone, but good work today, Jane. The dealer's currently in the hospital, but if you hadn't reached him, he might have gone free again." Cho reached out his hand, and Jane shook it. He continued. "I've put you and Lisbon down to take a week off. Don't let her come down before then - she'll need to recover from this one."

"Ah, well, you know Teresa. Let's see how that plays out. But really, Cho, thank you. Means a lot."

"Yeah. I'll call her tomorrow. See you, Jane."

"See ya, Cho." Jane waved to the car as they pulled away, before he pulled the door closed again.

Even though it was hard to see, Jane didn't turn the light on again. He knew that whatever sleep Lisbon could catch was needed. And so he cleared the living room in darkness, being careful not to be too loud. He even went as far as to go back outside to use the phone, booking in a car cleaning for tomorrow.

It was only when Jane started cooking some grilled cheeses that Lisbon woke up.

"What time is it?" she yawned, walking into the kitchen and half scaring Jane, who hadn't heard her wake up.

He turned around from the stove, dropping the spatula on the bench. Lisbon had the jacket draped around her shoulders like a cape, and her injured eye had gone down infinitesimally, but was still noticeable. "Hey sleepyhead," he said, wrapping his arms around her. "It's seven forty-five."

Lisbon wrapped her arms around him gently. "Did… did I fall asleep before everyone left?"

"Uh, yeah," Jane answered with a little laugh.

She froze. "Oh my god, that is _so_ embarrassing. Why didn't you wake me up?"

He laughed again, and kissed her forehead. "It's not embarrassing. You have some pretty good reasons for being tired, in case you forgot. You need all the sleep you can get." Jane broke the embrace to flip over the sandwiches in the pan. "You hungry?"

"You bet!" Lisbon said happily.

Jane put his free hand along the back of her neck, rubbing it. "Feeling okay?"

"Do I look like I'm about to fall on the ground in pain?"

"Oh be quiet, you. Sorry for being a concerned boyfriend who cares about his girlfriend."

"Meh, meh, meh." Lisbon got up on her toes and kissed Jane, her elbow hooked around his neck.

But Jane pulled back, in jest. "No! No kisses for you!" He flipped the sandwiches onto two plates and shoved one toward Lisbon. "Maybe if you eat your sandwich, like a good girl."

She glared at him, picked up her grilled cheese, and took a bite out of it. She waved it in Jane's face.

"That's the way!" Jane smirked, picking up his own sandwich.

"You're a sandwich," Lisbon muttered between bites.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N - Thank you for the positive reception with the last chapter :) I was really busy and so it was great to jump back into this story. I apologise in advance for the complete fluffiness of this chapter... okay, I lied, I'm not sorry. Apart for my dodgy fluffy writing. I'm sorry for that. Because I am really bad at writing intimate scenes and idk. Whatever. Enjoy! 3 Feel free to leave constructive criticism.

As it turns out, Lisbon did finish her sandwich, and Jane did give her her kisses (because he was a man of his word, of course). Leaning her slightly up against the counter in the kitchen, he wrapped his arms around her waist, one hand staying where it was on the small of her back, the other running up and down the back of her shirt. Lisbon had one hand holding Jane's face, and her other arm was over his shoulder.

It was like all the stress and emotion of the day was being released with each kiss. Jane didn't want to hurt her, so he was careful with his movements, but, at the same time, he wanted to throw himself on top of her, refusing to let Lisbon out of his arms ever again. But he contented himself with what he was doing, protectively squeezing her to himself.

Not that Lisbon wanted to move. She would have been more than happy to stay standing there for hours, kissing him until the sun came up, but before very long she found her head spinning.

Jane noticed almost immediately, eyes sweeping her face, watching her features, as she pulled her face back momentarily from his, her eyes still closed. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I'm fine," Lisbon answered quickly, leaning forward again to kiss him.

Jane moved his hand from her shoulder blades to her right cheek in an instant. "Hey." Lisbon flicked her eyes open, looking in his own eyes for only a second before she rolled them in frustration. "Lisbon, I can see your head spinning from here. Come on." He started to move out of the kitchen, hand still around the small of the back, but Lisbon wouldn't budge.

"No, no, no, no, no. Don't stop!" she whined, grabbing onto Jane's arm to pull him back.

He stopped moving, but moved his arm until his hand slid into hers. "You think I'm done?" Jane leaned in to kiss her once again. "I plan on kissing you until you fall asleep." Lisbon smiled at him. "Therefore it's preferable that you don't pass out beforehand. So let's go get ready for bed, then we'll pick up where we left off."

"Okay," Lisbon whispered. She matched Jane's steps into the bedroom, after he picked up the bag full of bandages and medication from the dining table. "Can you do it for me?"

She was referring to the antiseptic creams. "I was planning to." Jane sat Lisbon down on the bed, and squeezed her shoulders in anticipation. "Arms first." He unwound bandages on her forearms carefully, laying them down on the edge of the bag. She turned her arms around, wincing at the sight of the skin grazes running along the underside of her forearms. Lisbon bit her lip and closed her eyes as Jane applied the cream as gently as possible.

"Well… that was something," Lisbon said quietly, her voice wobbling slightly, as Jane put fresh bandages over the grazes. He nodded, leaning down to kiss her without using his hands. He left the room quickly to get a face cloth to wipe his hands on.

"Yeah, well for _that_, I have something for you," he said from the bathroom.

"What?" Lisbon asked, raising her eyebrows. When Jane came back into the bedroom, he walked right past Lisbon and to the closet. "Jane?" she persisted, smiling although she was thoroughly confused.

She was answered with a bundle of white being pressed into her hands. She unravelled it, revealing one of Jane's suit shirts.

"And no, I don't care if you get blood on it. It's all yours," he added with a smile. Lisbon looked up at him for a few seconds, before pulling his face down to press a lingering kiss against his lips.

Jane could never admit it to her face, but in some way, it felt good to help Lisbon for once, instead of it being the other way around. Not that he ever wanted to see her in pain, of course, and he knew that Lisbon hated feeling, almost, helpless, but he loved to do everything he could to make her happy. As he helped her out of her clothes, and into his shirt, pointedly running his hands up her waist as he pulled off her shirt, and as he applied the antiseptic cream carefully to the cuts on her face, and as they pulled stupid faces at each other whilst brushing their teeth, Jane couldn't help feeling even more in love with Lisbon than he had before. He was completely lovesick, like a giddy teenager, and he didn't care. She was his, and she was the most precious thing in the world to him.

"Now, for taking care of _me_," Lisbon said, Jane noting a slight eye roll, as they moved back to the bedroom. "I have something for _you_." And with that, she nearly pounced on Jane, wrapping her arms around her neck as they picked up where they left off.

Soon, as they became more tired, and their kisses slowed down, they lay lazily beside each other; Jane was lying on his side, with his left arm outstretched across the bed so that Lisbon could use it as a pillow. She was lying on her back, her head inclined toward Jane so they could still kiss each other.

Lisbon was currently holding Jane's right hand up to her face, the knuckles red and split. She was passing her fingertips lightly over each one. However, she could also feel Jane's eyes swivelling over her face, so she kissed his knuckles before turning completely on her side, the bruised side of her face up, to look him the eye. He pulled his hand from hers, only so that he could brush his fingers through her hair.

"Hmm?" she murmured in question, curious to what he was thinking about. Unable to keep her hands off him, Lisbon began tracing the lines of his navy t-shirt, still keeping her eyes on his.

Jane spoke without hesitation. Letting his guard down, and telling personal thoughts to Lisbon, was natural, these days. "I'm just ridiculously in love with you, Teresa," he said, touching on his reflections from earlier.

Lisbon thought this through, blinking a few times. "Oh," was her simple response. Then, without warning, she grabbed his face, but pushed him flat on to the bed, leaning on top of him. She opened her mouth and kissed him with the most passion and force Jane had seen and felt in ages. Lisbon was tired anymore, and she barely stopped for breath, only withdrawing quickly when she accidentally pressed her bruising against Jane's nose or cheek, otherwise throwing all caution to the wind. She slid her tongue along the inside of his lower lip, and against his teeth, and tugged slightly, again on his lower lip, with her teeth. Lisbon could taste the mint toothpaste from _his_ mouth.

Jane was slightly worried about Lisbon hurting herself, pushing herself too far, but he was too entranced in _her_ to care too much. He knew this was her moment, her release, and let her take control. He had his arms wrapped around her back, pulling her closer, wanting this nearly as much as her - it didn't matter that they had been heavily making out ten minutes ago; it was like it hadn't happened.

"God, I love you, Patrick. So. Much," she whispered in his ear. Jane pushed himself off the mattress, so he was sitting upright, and crossed his legs. Lisbon automatically sat on his lap, wrapping her legs around his waist, pressing kisses to Jane's cheek, only to be stopped by his hand guiding her chin to his.

"Aren't you tired?" Jane said quietly in-between kisses.

"I could never get tired of kissing you," Lisbon breathed. He wasn't sure whether she intentionally said it or not, but it garnered a laugh. She beamed at him. "I feel really good, Jane. So, so good." Jane smiled back at her, saving this moment in his memory so that he could look back at it in the pain and problems from the days to come.

"I love you, my princess." He wrapped his arms around her, and she kissed him once more before she moved her head over his right shoulder, leaning into his neck. "But we really need to go to sleep. Today has been crazy, and you're hurt, and as much as I don't want it to happen, the next few days are gonna be a roller coaster." He kissed the nape of her neck as Lisbon groaned quietly in defeat. "Did you have your medication?"

She unwrapped herself from him torso reluctantly. "Yep, while you were in the bathroom." She lay back on the bed, as Jane pulled the sheets up and lay next to her. "Love you, Jane." Lisbon rested her head against Jane's shoulder, and laced one of her hands in his.

And while he didn't really kiss her till she fell asleep, Jane kissed her forehead as she drifted into dreams, and that was all that mattered.


End file.
